


A Different Dawn

by Lyzaander



Series: Aðgreining [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, F/M, Gen, lokane - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-22
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-02 08:32:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1054681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyzaander/pseuds/Lyzaander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chronicle of events in 'A Different Turn' told in a few hundred words each.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Loss

He is properly horrified at the cruelty when he steps off the Bifröst into the chamber.

 

There is emptiness by his side, the void gaping as his friends come rushing in front of him. They ask after Thor, and to him it is a lifetime before they wonder about his brother.

 

“Loki… has been stripped of his power and birthright. Father has banished him to Midgard. I… know not how to get him back.”

 

Mjolnir hums in his right hand, and there is a profound sense of loss. His brother languishes alone on Midgard.

  
Thor has never felt so helpless.


	2. Absence

He had not meant the words in the screaming match - but now his apologies will seem meaningless, now that his father is in Odinsleep.

They have always presented a united front together, but now his mother shows visible signs of distress and anger - she and Loki have always been that tiny bit closer because of seiðr .

Gungnir is offered to him, and Thor secures Mjolnir to his side.

He is King now, but he lacks the ability to bring Loki back.

“We must trust in Loki’s ability to return to us,” are his mother’s words to his back.


	3. Decisions

  
She'd been psyched when Jane had passed her the keys. She isn't feeling that anymore. 

 Darcy likes to think that she has the knack for reading people - but she cannot yet determine whether Jane Foster is overwhelmingly brilliant to the point that she disregards safety or just reckless. 

Of course, deciding between one and the other is a little useless now - Jane’s hand is guiding them into certain doom.

They're driving into a cyclone as she ponders what to say as last words - there are three of them in the car and no one will take the last words for her gravestone. 


	4. Arrival

His brain is working in overdrive even through the discomfort - the nausea of Bifröst travel is worse without seiðr at his disposal. He feels weak, stripped of his powers.

There is no instinctual seiðr to orientate himself or cushion his fall, and something _snaps_ when he falls wrongly.

He manages to clamber to his feet, only to be blinded by twin beams of light and a dull roar that is not the rush of his blood. There is a belated sense of horror as the beast converges upon him.

There is impact that rattles his skull, and -

_Everything goes black._


	5. Disclaimer

Darcy swears that the guy pops out of nowhere. Maybe those horror movies really are realistic in that aspect - they should go investigate all the people who write those movies, maybe they have 'experience'.

She trades looks with the other two in the car, and then they all scramble out of the car after a heatbeat... okay, maybe ten rapid heartbeats.

They use flashlights to scour the darkness, and Darcy feels like she has to make things clear, just in case.

"I think that... that was legally your fault."

"Get the first aid kit," is all Jane has to say.


	6. Encounter

Oh gods.

There are a billion things that are running through her mind right now, and Jane is leaning towards the idea of leaving the guy to Erik just so that she can investigate the readings on the storm.

Still, she presses her palms on each side of his face and tilts his face toward the light, "Come on, don't be dead. Open your eyes."

He shudders under her touch, and she is startled by the movement. She relaxes when his eyes flutter open, and Jane feels her stomach clench when the emerald of his eyes focuses on her face.


	7. Interruptions

He has a prepossessing quality to his features, and it ultimately takes Darcy's point-blank bluntness to snap Jane out of it, "Wow. Does he need CPR? Because I know CPR."

Jane grabs the torch, looking for signs of serious head injury. It's a good sign, seeing that his pupils are contracting and dilating in response.

Darcy is still drooling over him, and Erik remains as the voice of reason, "We still have to get him to a hospital."

The phenomenon fades overhead, and Jane looks at the disappearing wisps with reluctance...

The thought strikes her, "Where did he come from?"


	8. Questions

The woman hovering above him wears a concerned look on her face, and he cannot help but think that she looks vulnerable like this. She shines a light into his face, and the throbbing in his head increases a hundredfold.

The light stops, and someone - a man - says something, and the woman cradling his face looks up at the sky with something like regret marring her features.

He follows her gaze, but there is nothing but pitch black overhead.

"Where did he come from?"

She is referring to him, but all he can recall is his name.

Loki.

Nothing else.


	9. Search

There must be clues. Where he is. _Who_ he is.

Loki gets up, trying to ignore the white-hot stabs in his ribcage as much as possible. He fails at ignoring it however, and feels the cold sweat beading on his forehead and down his back.

The landscape is flat as far as his eyes can see, but Loki knows he must return. He does not belong here - where does he belong then? - and there is nothing out on this empty plain.

The woman stands, and the light that she holds in her hand strikes something.

Symbols etched onto the sand.


	10. Memory

The man staggers toward where the light from the torch falls, and Jane follows his lead as well. Erik feels a pang of distrust toward the man, but Jane beckons him closer, "Erik... look at this."

It looks as though something has been burnt onto the surface of the ground, and Jane bursts into motion when the wind begins to sweep over the sand.

She snaps pictures, trying to do too many things at once. Soil samples, light readings, sketches in her notebook.

The weave and patterning is an itch at the back of his mind.

He never does remember.


	11. Scientists

She'll never understand these scientist-types. They've followed their accident victim, and now all three of them are staring the scorched floor.

Darcy is content to just linger around on the sidelines checking her phone, right till the handsomest of the bunch just tilts and falls over. There is a sickening sound as his head hits the dessert floor, and it says a lot when the two who could've caught him are fifteen seconds too late for a save.

It's a hard fall, and Darcy winces.

Erik snaps back into Responsible Adult mode - it's the moment that she's been waiting for.


	12. Sigh

"Well, if he didn't have a concussion before, he has one now," Darcy reports. It is a little disturbing that she actually sounds cheerful, but Jane is busy taking soil samples.

A teeny tiny part of Jane's mind comments that it's a cue for her to get in the car, but it'll take too long - County is an hour away and the wind is scattering the scorch marks.

"Okay, you and Erik take him to the hospital, I'll stay here."

"You expect me to leave you alone in the middle of the desert?"

Jane sighs, and begins to get up.


	13. Loki

Darcy takes the wheel, and Erik takes point right beside her.

Jane is the only one who's been trained to assess head injuries - it's been years, but she remembers enough from Don's recounting of his working experiences in Emergency.

Their mysterious guy takes up most of the free space on the floor, and Jane is more or less squished at the front, sitting sideways. The desert roads are by no means a smooth journey, so his head is pillowed by her lap to prevent his head from moving about and causing further injury.

He seems to be in pain, and Jane attempts to make him a little more comfortable by brushing the hair away from his face. He starts to stir, and now is a good time as any to wake him up for an assessment.

She taps one cheek gently, "Hey, big guy. Wake up."

The green of his eyes are more intense than she remembers, and she actually has to concentrate on making sure that he is okay. He still looks a little spaced out, and she has to tilt his head so that he can focus on her, "I need you to answer a few questions, okay?"

He barely manages a nod, but Jane takes that as a good sign. He's responsive, which is more than good. He just needs to answer more definitive questions.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"I am not sure if this constitutes as 'alright'." She'll give him extra points for sarcasm, and a bonus for the British accent.

"What is your name?"

"Loki. Loki..." His voice trails off, and there are warning alarms going off in Jane's head.

"What is today's date?"

He can't answer that.

"Where are you?"

It's unanswered as well.

"What happened to you?"

He doesn't answer that as well.


	14. Jane

"Loki?"

There is a constant stream of pain from the side of his head and the muscles of his neck, but the hand on his cheek is cool and remarkably soft. It grounds him through the rising panic and their shifting surroundings - they must be moving at high speeds, judging from the jolting and the noise.

All he has is a name.

"Hey there. It's gonna be okay," the woman looks unsure herself, but she is trying her best.

"Who... are you?"

"Oh. I did forget to introduce myself. I'm Jane Foster. And well... we found you in the desert."


	15. Touch

His eyes slide to the left, watching as the strange objects on the wall rattle in their positions.

Jane... Foster.

Desert.

Why would he be in the desert?

She brushes her hand against his cheek again, and Loki shifts his eyes to look at her, watching her expression as it twists - disappointment, concern, unhappiness? - into weak encouragement.

"You should drink a little water and then rest."

She spills a little water on him when everything jerks abruptly, but he doesn't mind it. He drifts off to sleep - Jane has promised to wake him up soon to make sure he's okay.


	16. Disquiet

Jane chews her lip. She has to wake him up in fifteen minutes, and she's at a loss so as what to ask him to assess his condition. He doesn't seem to have anything besides his name. And well... her name.

It's worrying, she admits - it might mean a severe concussion or amnesia.

She knows panic when she sees it, and he - Loki had been panicking. She could leave him at the hospital, where there would be trained staff to handle his case properly...

But she knows the feeling of abandonment all too well.

She can't do this to him.

 


	17. News

Darcy is concentrating hard on driving. Deserted as the roads in Puente Antiguo,there is danger in following the trail in the dark because of the potholes.

Jane is talking in soft tones to their mysterious hunk, but Darcy can hardly hear anything. Her voice fades eventually, and then Erik's phone beeps.

Erik sighs deeply after reading the message, "That was Jane. She says that he doesn't remember anything much."

There is a certain quality in his voice, and Darcy suspects that there are stories behind it- most likely the reason why Erik lets Jane get away with so much.


	18. Unsaid

"So... what do we do now?"

"He goes to the hospital, we make sure he's okay."

He leaves sentences unsaid, and they hang right there. They could take him in, till he recovers. They could leave him there and drive back to the middle of nowhere and salvage what was left of the scorch marks.

Erik is stock still in the corner of her vision, and it is a long time before he continues, "I guess that it's up to Jane to decide."

That is all she gets from him, and Darcy settles into the seat for the long drive.


	19. Amusement

The darkness is comfortable, but someone is calling his name. She sounds worried, and Loki is compelled to shrug off sleep.

He places a name to her face immediately. She sighs with relief when he mutters her name, and then he wonders why he feels that her reaction is a novelty. He comes up empty.

He doesn't realise that he is frowning until Jane taps his cheek, "Relax..." But despite the pain in his head, his thoughts are constantly churning.

"What... were you doing in the desert? When you... found me."

The look on her face brightens.

Loki is amused.


	20. Guilt

Loki is a good listener. Maybe it is because he is giving all the cues in all the right places for her to continue, but mostly it is because Jane has so much to say and very little people to appreciate the magnitudes of her discoveries, working (nearly) alone in the field of astrophysics.

It is only after a rather long bumpy stretch that she discovers that he is sweaty and paler. It is obvious that his injuries are bad.

"Is something the matter?"

"N-nothing. I think you should go back to resting. I'll tell you more when you wake."


	21. Resolution

Erik knows that look. He remembers a little girl barely higher than his chest, clutching a toy rabbit with both arms. Fingers rubbing the soft fur, and then the words that had come out of her little mouth was astonishing.

 

“My name is not Jane _Nelson_. My name is Jane _Foster_.”

 

Fully articulate for such a small child. And so resolute even for her age.

  
It is the same now, though Jane is now a full adult. Her arms are wrapped around herself as they watch two men dressed in scrubs heft (with difficulty) their accident victim onto the gurney...


	22. Tears

Darcy turns the engine off, and joins Jane and Erik on the pavement. It’s not the time to say it out loud, but Jane has the most serious poker face ever.

“Erik, give me the surname of your best friend.”

“Askeland. Why?”

His question is asked too late, as Jane surges towards the gurney. ‘A woman with a mission’, Darcy thinks. She’s almost afraid to revise her opinion of the genius-level astrophysicist.

Still, Darcy tries to keep on Jane's heels.

The admissions nurse has a placid smile, and Darcy is shocked when she stands next to Jane.

Jane is crying.


	23. Execution

"Tears are the emotions that we cannot express with words," someone had said.

 Darcy had scoffed at a saying once, and now the weight of those disembodied words have landed a heavy blow. She had seen emotion as a weakness then. Of course, it might have everything to do with the fact that she was a military brat, and that her father had expressed that particular sentiment so many times it was practically ingrained in her.

 The admissions nurse has a softened expression now, and Darcy automatically has her hand patting Jane’s back., while Jane blubbers away.

 “I-I’m so sorry. I shoul-shouldn’t be crying right now.”

 “That’s alright dear,” the nurse smiles sympathetically, and hands Jane a tissue, “take your time.”

 There’s a bout of nose blowing, and Darcy is somewhat less freaked out when Erik joins the party.

 “Okay, dearie, I need to know his name.”

 “Lo-” sob, “-ki Askeland.” Oh. So that was what the weird question was all about. There’s some tapping on the keyboard, before the nurse smiles encouragingly, “Okay. And your relationship?”

 “Jane Fos- actually, it’s Jane Askeland, I guess. He just pro-proposed to me. And then when we were driving back- they came out of no-nowhere and stopped us. He tried to get us out, but… he got hurt.” There is a look of dawning horror on the nurse’s face as the her brain fills in the blanks, and Jane blows her nose again.

It suddenly strikes Darcy how scary Jane is - no wonder that Jane has a PhD in what Erik described as a male-dominated circle. The nurse simply acquiesces to Jane’s request to see her fiancé _,_ because Jane needs to make sure that her _fiancé_ is alright.

Which _conveniently_ leaves Erik and Darcy to do the paperwork. She is interrupted by a text message from Boss Lady, and she opens it up to see… orders. Darcy groans inwardly, because now she has to make up most of everything in Mr. Unconscious’s life. And then back up that information in the database. She regrets _deeply_ , putting ‘hacking’ in her informal resume.

She shows the text to Erik, who heaves a great sigh.

This is going to be hard, but none of them can fully explain Loki’s appearance in the middle of the desert. And even if they could, mowing him down in the middle of aurora chasing in the middle of New Mexico is _exponentially_ harder to explain.

So. Okaaaay. Loki Askeland. Definitely _male_. A few years older than Jane, so… thirty-two? Birthday... first of April, because this is turning out to be such a joke. She’s making up a story as she goes, so that she can remember all the details. Of course, she could probably snap a picture of the form with her phone, but nothing ever goes to plan.

Unless that plan was knocking someone down and discovering that they had amnesia and then deciding to _adopt_ said accident victim as their fiancé.

That plan would definitely be _perfectly_ executed _._


	24. Feel

There is harsh laughter that brings a reflexive smile, but her attention is centred on the contagious sombreness of her Prince.

The cheeriness of the feasting is subdued by the storm outside, and Thor cannot even muster a smile. The man is sequestered in the corner, staring blankly at the table nearly overflowing with succulent meats and divine mead.

There is only one other chair at this table, and Thor leans his weight on that other chair. His fingers rub against the lacquered surface every so often. Sif does not need to be a studious scribe to know the reason for Thor’s miserable state.

She feels so jealous of Loki, to affect Thor so. Fury at Loki - irrational, and she knows it - for making Thor sit in a quiet place in the midst of the feast.

She feels so much that she cannot turn them into words.

But all of those feelings are minuscule in the light of the confession of one of the guards, who had confessed his tardiness in passing on Loki’s message to the King. Without that message… Sif cannot bear to think about the consequences.

All the possible outcomes would have been endless blood and war.


	25. Challenge

There is movement in the corner of his eye, but Thor is not quite fast enough in asserting his desire to be alone. Sif plants herself firmly onto the empty seat, and Thor watches as she slams a mug on the table, and Thor watches the liquid slosh at the brim, “You either drink or leave the hall, Thor. Your low spirits do nothing for the morale of the soldiers who will accompany you to Jötunheim for the peace talk in three days.”

 _Three days_. The words weigh heavy on him. Just like everything else. The burden of Asgard is upon him all of a sudden. There are expectations that he should meet. Anxieties that he must quell. He had thought that he… would have help.

His father’s guidance, his mother’s support. Loki’s… wisdom. But his father is in Odinsleep, his mother worries and mourns for husband and son. And his brother is exiled to Midgard for instigating this incomprehensible chain of events.

Another mug slams on the table, and this time it is empty. He looks up to see Sif wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her cheeks are flush, and her eyes hold a challenge.


	26. Visitor

The bed is very nearly not long enough for his frame, but the wideness of the mattress strikes home his slender frame. He is as stiff and still as stone, and the chaotic nature of the receiving ward is very obviously alien to him.

A nurse comes to intercept her, but he backs away when Jane turns her eyes on him. She takes it as permission to approach the bed in quick steps. Some of the stiffness drains at the sight of her, and Jane immediately feels guilt for having even slightest notion of leaving him alone in the hospital.

 


	27. Reality

 The resident attending Loki merely stares at the chart, occasionally making humming noises, “Well, even if you have _had_ experience with such cases, I’d recommend keeping him here for twenty-four hours to keep an eye on the concussion, but you will have to monitor him carefully when he gets discharged for about a week or so, regardless.”

Darcy joins her at the bedside then, and Jane jumps - the pinch to her side is more unexpected than painful.

“As for the broken ribs, breathing exercises and gentle coughing is recommended. The painkillers should have no adverse effects on his concussion...though feel contact me if anything happens, or if you need any… advice”

At this point, the resident has already shifted his attention and eye contact to Darcy, who is working the sly grin to her advantage, and taking the distraction mission thing to whole new levels.

She steps closer to the bed, and looks at him. His eyes are closed, and his brow is knitted together. The minimal amount of painkillers administered doesn’t do much for his pain, because the staff will still have to wake him up regularly to check his status. Her eyes trace the black curls peeking out from between the pillow and the curve of his neck.

Her actions thus far seem a little excessive now - faked names and relationships, even - but priority access to emergency ward has always been restricted to family.

Fiancee, huh.

The fiercely logical side of her brain rationalizes the entire encounter into something practical. She’s keeping the truth under wraps - her funding is already as tenuous as it is. Jane will somehow persuade Loki to not report this entire incident to the authorities when he gets his memory back.

He’ll find his memories. Her stars will still remain where they are.


	28. Time

She’s an astrophysicist. A theoretical astrophysicist, to be exact. She’s trained to observe, and she knows the art of placing variables - known and unknown.

Anticipation is a given, but it has always been hard to avoid the pangs of disappointment when the equations and predictions never pull through. The data is more than she could have wished for, and so promising that Jane can see herself wallowing in depression if it turns out as a dead end.

There is another ticking time bomb in her lab: a little over six feet tall, focused intently on something Darcy calls ‘Project Bring Loki Up To Speed’’. She’s caught glimpses of dubious titles, like ‘How Did They Die?’ and ‘The Pessimist's Guide to History’. She can’t really object to this: Darcy is the one studying political science here, and Loki is currently poring over her favorite astronomy books right now.

Enter Darcy with arms full with takeaway, tutting mock-irritably, “I leave you two lovebirds alone for one hour and all you two do is _work_? This little town has to see some _action_ before I go nuts.”

The teasing is getting old - a week old, to be exact - and Jane rolls her eyes.


	29. Tetchy

Loki is beginning to show signs of being unnerved, and Darcy narrows her eyes when he picks another morsel off the plate.

The dude has some serious adaptation capabilities - it’s been barely twenty minutes since he’s expressed his doubts on using ‘twigs’ and now the guy’s eating Moo Shu pork with chopsticks like he’s been wielding them all his life.

She’s about to ask Loki if he’s a MI6 agent - you never know - when Jane nudges her elbow. Nonchalantly (obvious faking), but hard enough that her pork slice falls onto her rice with a sad splat.

Sheesh. Someone's tetchy today.


	30. Plots

She’s been having fun with the ‘Askeland’ situation - _maybe too much fun, but she’ll keep that to herself_ \- Jane is too preoccupied with the new graphs and numbers to get angry with Darcy (so long as Darcy files her weight in papers and printouts everyday) and Loki is just adorably confused at most things.

She’d feigned innocence when another well-wisher had come to the lab earlier today - most of yesterday was spent in town gossiping that Jane has a fiancee. It’s two birds with one stone, really.

One. By establishing that there is a male presence who is (in appearance, because broken ribs, duh) stronger than feeble old Selvig, Darcy gets to deter the no-good men who have their eyes on Jane for no-good reasons. Darcy herself has been trained by MDs (Military Dads) and wields a taser pretty good.

Two. Repeat number one, with the emphasis on Jane’s cluelessness on the male population in Puente Antiguo.

But right now Darcy is a little busy hiding rather than spreading the word. She backs away from the trailer door, and slowly crouches down to the floor. The door rattles.

“ _Darcy_!”

Whatever. She is busy pretending that she isn’t in Jane’s locked-from-the-inside trailer. Also, the keys to the trailer aren’t in her pocket.

It doesn’t that a genius to see that the other reason is that Jane is still a little awkward around Loki. The question is not why. That’s not the important thing, because solving problems is paramount to pondering.

Loki’s grown a little immune to Darcy’s prodding - he’s learnt to take the things that she says with a grain of salt - and maybe because he still hasn’t forgiven her for the poptart catastrophe - and it’s amusing to see him glance towards her boss like Jane is the epitome of good ol’ honest truth.

Like a lifeline.

Maybe like a lighthouse in stormy seas.

Darcy settles down to wait out the little Jane-tantrum outside. It’s not as if her boss will spend the entire night in the trailer anyway - Jane has this bad habit of waking up in the middle of the night for a bit of data crunching, and stumbling into just about everything else on the way out.

Who knows, maybe she’ll get a full night’s sleep without resorting to a triple-strength large coffee to feel like a human in the morning.

Darcy _really_ likes the thought of that.

  



End file.
